RD News Minute: New U.S. sanctions target Russian military

The U.S. blacklists several Russian arms exporters, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visits Azerbaijan, and Estonia builds a wall to keep out Russia.

Video by Pavel Gazdyuk

New sanctions against Russian military

Five Russian military-oriented manufacturers including MiG Aircraft Corporation and Rosoboronexport were put on the U.S. sanctions list, which will be officially published this Thursday, September 3. According to the U.S. authorities, the formal reason for new sanctions is Russia’s violation of the regime of non-proliferation with regard to Iran, North Korea and Syria. These new sanctions are to be introduced shortly after Russia hosted the International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS 2015 last week, where it showcased its new military and high-tech offerings.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

The Nagorno-Karabakh frozen conflict is one step closer to being resolved. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov could offer a plan for the settlement of the conflict during his visit to Azerbaijan. Some experts argue that Azerbaijan seeks to buy Russian arms and Moscow tries to exploit this as a lever to push Baku towards a settlement of the conflict. To learn more about frozen conflicts, download our new report “Frozen Conflicts in the Post-Soviet Space” from our website: www.russia-direct.org/archive.

Estonia’s border wall

Estonian authorities have announced plans to build a 108 kilometer-long wall along the Russia-Estonia border. Estonia claims that the main reason for the wall is to get better technical control over the border. Earlier, Latvia also announced its plans to enhance its border infrastructure with Russia. Experts view such moves as a response to the crisis in Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry comments that such moves by Estonia will be considered as having no judicial power as the border treaty between Russia and Estonia is still not ratified.